MY goodness, it’s the end of the world as I know it. Last week, my two-and-a-half year old granddaughter Amelia Peggy came along clutching an iPhone and told me she wanted to show me how to make a cake.

A FEW months ago I wrote about a new young chef called Stevie Parle who is making waves on the London food scene.

THE British Guild of Food Writers was founded on April 12, 1984, when a small group of food writers met over a superb lunch, amongst them Jane Grigson, Elizabeth David, Arabella Boxer and Michael Smith.

WHILE there are lots of delicious Irish currants and berries around, let’s have a “jam session”.

STRAWBERRIES, raspberries, loganberries, tay berries and now lots of black, red and white currants — it’s the season for berries. A few weeks ago we feasted on green gooseberry and elderflower tarts, compotes and fools. The gooseberries that survived will be left on the bushes to ripen. When they are plump and full of sweet juice we’ll enjoy them as dessert gooseberries.

ALL OVER the country people are rediscovering the joy of growing their own vegetables, a little soft fruit, an apple tree or even a few fresh herbs. It’s not just about the economics – there is the sheer thrill of digging your own potatoes, carrots or beets and it is certainly is a thrill having waited patiently for four to five months for them to grow.

THIS WEEK we feature lots and lots of salads, just what we all yearn for during this unexpected spell of beautiful weather. Recently chef and cookery teacher Barny Haughton from Bristol came to Ballymaloe Cookery School to do a whole morning on salads.

SOMETIMES I wake up early enough in the morning to catch Farming Today on BBC Radio 4.

FOR years and years, I’ve scattered flower petals over food for extra colour and pizzazz. At first I was pretty cautious, using mostly flowers of fresh herbs from the garden.

ALL Slow Food events have an educational element as well as a hedonistic one. So when we gathered in Lismore recently we started our evening at Michael McGrath butcher’s shop on Main Street. We were all anxious to learn from this man whose skills have come down through four generations – his father, grandfather and great-grandfather.